If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

(Full disclosure, I don't own a single pair of made-in-USA underwear.) I may have related this story in this forum earier, but the first time my current wife went with me to the food co-op to shop, she picked up a brick of fairly-common cheese and was shocked at the price (I don't remember; maybe $7-8/lb.). "It's so expensive!" "Actually, that's the price of cheese when you treat the cattle humanely and don't let their manure pollute the environment, pay the farm workers a wage they can live on and not have to visit the ER for routine medical care, and sell it in a store in which every employee makes a local living wage and has health coverage and tuition reimbursement."

Maybe the question is not "Why is Product A so expensive?" but "Why is Product B so cheap?" Is Product B really cheaper when so much of its production is subsidized by everyone?

Oh great! So now I have to feel guilty about my hot pepper cheese I get for $3.99/lb? When will the suffering end?

When so much of our stuff is made in China these days where regulations may or may not be enforced, how do we really know what's in them? Seems like US corporations can skirt some things like that when made off-shore. Or do California environmental laws save us from Asian container loads of chemicalized goods? Speaking of chemicals, I think I just saw an ad for a Febreze spray so you don't need to change your underwear daily. Can that really be or did I dream that up?

Ugg. Now that I've clicked on this thread a few times I finally did some google to see what I could find, since it occurred to me that surely not just underwear is likely to have been treated with chemicals. And sure enough, among other things most wrinkle free material has been treated with a relative of teflon. Since I'm not planning on taking up ironing I guess my choices are either to take the risk of teflon poisoning or wear wrinkled clothes to the office.

I would never wear anything new without washing it at least once, by itself. But I don't know if that helps or not. I think they put "sizing" on everything, to make it keep it's shape better for transport. Hopefully that, at least, can be washed out quickly. Yeah......this world is a crazy place.

Oh great! So now I have to feel guilty about my hot pepper cheese I get for $3.99/lb? When will the suffering end?

Realizing I may have missed a smile emoji there, Americans spend a lower proportion of their income for food than almost every other developed nation. This is, in part because we've bought into the American system that privatizes gain and socializes loss. When huge producers and vendors can dictate create oligopolies and influence politics and have the American public subsidize their worker benefits, plant maintenance, transportation, etc., you know that cheese has to cost more than $3.99/lb. But the unbundled price is hard to determine. Most people don't want to figure it out. I think some people don't want to know. Their names are legion. And they're okay with it. I realize I am fortunate enough to have the income that lets me vote with my dollars. Many do not believe they have that vote.

Originally Posted by pinkytoe

When so much of our stuff is made in China these days where regulations may or may not be enforced, how do we really know what's in them? Seems like US corporations can skirt some things like that when made off-shore. Or do California environmental laws save us from Asian container loads of chemicalized goods?

We don't know. Until the adulterated goods are inspected and identified. Which is tough given the number of inspectors and the flood of incoming products. And, if caught, the US corporation can claim plausible deniability ("We are doubling down on our efforts to have our suppliers comply...") and move on to the next supplier/manufacturer. Rinse and repeat. I don't mean to sound sour about this; just recognizes the old adage that a person will not understand something if his or her salary depends on not understanding it.

Originally Posted by pinkytoe

Speaking of chemicals, I think I just saw an ad for a Febreze spray so you don't need to change your underwear daily. Can that really be or did I dream that up?

I hope you dreamed that up. On the other hand, Charmin advertises that their product cleans so well you don't need to change your underwear daily.

If Americans expended even a fraction of the energy on civic engagement that we spend on consumer ideology, our democracy would be much healthier. Can you imagine people camping out to vote? -- Charles Roberts, Amherst, Mass., Nov. 25, 2006

Advertisements are just insane anymore. this is a bit off-topic, but this morning I saw yet another commercial for something like an antidepressant or anti-arthritis drug or cancer treatment, etc., and they ALWAYS have people smiling and acting like life is great. How misleading. They show people with cancer smiling, playing with their dog, enjoying life. They show people who are severely depressed, enjoying themselves. They show people with horrible arthritis playing frisbee......all after taking the advertised drug. It's all just lies, lies, lies.....

Advertisements are just insane anymore. this is a bit off-topic, but this morning I saw yet another commercial for something like an antidepressant or anti-arthritis drug or cancer treatment, etc., and they ALWAYS have people smiling and acting like life is great. How misleading. They show people with cancer smiling, playing with their dog, enjoying life. They show people who are severely depressed, enjoying themselves. They show people with horrible arthritis playing frisbee......all after taking the advertised drug. It's all just lies, lies, lies.....

That's to distract you with pretty images while they read the inevitable two-minute list of horrible side effects.

LOL..........it's amazing anyone wants to use any of that stuff, if they listen to the side-effects. I wish they would do that with everything out there.............commercials about Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendy's, cosmetics, lotions, etc., etc., etc...................

Those Cancer Treatments of American commercials make me almost want to go there, even without cancer........Everyone on them sounds like they are perfectly healthy now..........but in small print at the bottom it says something like "These results are not typical. You should not expect these results" (meaning......recovering from cancer.)

Actually, I forget which anti-depressant commercial it was, but it was fairly reasonable. It went from showing people who were almost non-functional from depression. After taking the medicine, it showed them at least walking the dog, slightly smiling with other people, being a little social. That was probably the most realistic ad I've seen.